Backfire - letters from September 2008

September '08

Feature Article from Hemmings Muscle Machines

September, 2008

As I continue to see letters written in reference to your April 2008 column on daily drivers ("Daily Affirmation," HMM #55), I felt it was time to write one myself. Beginning with my first car, a 1964 Chevelle Malibu with a 283 and Powerglide, all my cars have been daily drivers.

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The last one, however, has eclipsed all the rest. I bought my '72 El Camino SS in May 1983, while searching for a '69 SS. It was a clean, second-owner car, had a 350, four-barrel and Turbo 350 trans, all with 127K miles on it. The former owner made me promise not to use it for construction purposes. Since that time, besides daily driving, the car has taken us on numerous trips to northern California, as well as all around and across Arizona, adding an additional 300,000 miles to the odometer.
The engine was rebuilt at 210,000 miles, and again at 340,000, although the block, crank and rods are all original, as is the Quadrajet. The car has been upgraded with World Products SR Torquer heads, Edelbrock Performer intake, HEI distributor, Hooker headers, heavy-duty anti-roll bars and a 200-4R overdrive trans. We also replaced the bench seat with aftermarket buckets and added a factory console and horseshoe shifter from OPGI. The 12-bolt Posi rear was upgraded with 3.42:1 gears when the trans was replaced, and I had swapped the '72 SS wheels for the '70 SS wheels from my Nova.
We have even utilized it to tow our '40s-style teardrop camping trailer, which it doesn't even notice is there, easily cruising at Arizona's 75 mph speeds. After 25 years, the car is a member of the family, and will continue to be as long as I'm able to drive it. Thanks for a great magazine, and the opportunity to write.
Bill Riley
San Diego, California
The Farmer hits Florida
I want you to know how much I enjoy the articles and color photos of both the old and new muscle cars in Hemmings Muscle Machines. At the top of my list is the recent story on the SD421 Tempest wagon.
I have a few more interesting details on Arnie Beswick's win at the NHRA-NASCAR Winter Nationals in 1960. He took delivery of the Newport Blue Ventura (not Bonneville) just a few days before the race. The trip from Northwest Illinois to Daytona was a break-in run.
He was very successful with his first two Pontiacs, a '58 and '59, but there was a weak spot in the drivetrain--the three-speed column linkage. Arnie lobbied long and hard for a factory four-speed, but Pontiac engineers calculated that the extra weight and torque of the Pontiac would lead to transmission failure.
But Pontiac also wanted to keep Arnie in their racing stable. So they finally relented and offered the T-10 four-speed. It is believed that Beswick's Ventura was the very first unit built with the four-speed.
Arnie left the price sticker in the window, but that didn't quiet the protests of the other Pontiac racers. Pontiac Motor Division had to file certification that it was indeed a factory-built four-speed car. However, the engineers were correct that the T-10 would fail behind a Pontiac engine. He often ran it as a three-speed after second or third gear failed.
Beswick was very successful racing his Pontiacs in the Midwest and South, but the win at Daytona put his name on the drag racing map. Amazingly, he won four more Overall Top Stock Eliminator trophies, a car and other merchandise with his Pontiacs over the next four years at the NASCAR Winter Nationals marathon sessions. However, he was stripped of the 1962 win because of a procedural infraction.
At Daytona in 1965, he won the new Unlimited Class Eliminator with his supercharged '64 GTO. The win in 1960 was the start of several years of racing dominance over some of the best cars and drivers in the country.
Harlan Tiesman
Fulton, Illinois
Spare the horses
Terry, after reading your column in the July 2008 issue ("Resisting the Urge," HMM #58), I had to write. I couldn't agree with you more! I believe you and I are about the same age. I too, have a few cars I enjoy taking out for a "Sunday" drive. Two are four-speed cars and the other is my first car. As my time is valuable, balanced, like yours, between family obligations, a little OT at work and household chores, I cherish the opportunities I get for a little time between me and my cars. So I see no need to make the car prove anything--just a nice drive to help relieve the frustrations. Anyway, good article.
Ken Grittman
Via e-mail
Muscle alternatives
I was rereading Jim McGowan's "What's in Your Memory" nostalgia piece in the October '07 issue; yes, I save and reread every issue. I have to share some of my memories; I think some may enjoy them. The first car I "drove" was a 1960 full-size Ford. I was six and could hold it on the hill in our driveway while sitting in my brother's lap. I was a car person from birth apparently, as I also remember my Grandpa's '62 Fairlane well, and I was five or six when he died.
An unusual car from my early memory is my brother's Morris Minor. I guess it was about a 1960, as he used to drive me around in it in 1965, and it was not a new car. My next oldest brother had a Consul Cortina; I've never seen another one!
His next car, which I cleaned for pocket change, was a '65 Impala SS in gold. I loved that car, and its 283 was so smooth. The vacuum gauge in the console impressed me a lot. I was about eight then. He later got a '69 El Camino in Fathom Green with a 350 and four-speed; I still love the '69 Chevelle and El Camino for the front end.
My second car was a red '66 Chevelle two-door that was just an old used car in 1977, but I appreciated the 283 and Powerglide for their smoothness and thrift.
My first car was a '66 Bel Air four-door with a 230 or 250 straight-six. I mistreated that car, but it always ran. I also had a '66 Nova wagon with a six.
I can't end this without mentioning the '69 Pontiac Custom S four-door hardtop; my dad took me with him to buy it. It was Crystal Turquoise, and I ended up with that car when it was passed down, and later bought a '69 Custom S ragtop that ran well but needed paint and bodywork, so I changed the color from gold to Crystal Turquoise and the top color from black to white. I put dual exhaust on that car and it ran so nice until an accident ended our love affair. The parts-pickers came from all over Massachusetts to take that car apart.
My last car before I could no longer drive was a 1966 Skylark ragtop in Riviera Cream with a black top. She had a 300 and three-on-the-tree, and ran like a Swiss watch. She also had low miles.
That brings me to my last subject. The Skylark was not a GS, and ran as fast as I needed to go. The Custom S Pontiacs and Le Mans were not GTOs, and they ran great with their 350 2-bbl. The only true muscle car I ever owned was the 4-4-2. I have always had the "lesser" models, and liked them more. They were so much less expensive to buy, run and get parts for, I never saw the need to spend the extra money.
Now, of course, everybody else is realizing this, but I wanted to tell you some of us knew this in the '70s and '80s. Sure, I admired guys who had the means to own top-of-the-line machines, but I would have felt foolish spending the extra money. Maybe I was just cheap!
Keep up the great work, and please feature more '60s "everyday" cars, as they bring back memories for more of us who had them.
Scott D. Hesselton
Norfolk, Massachusetts
All in the family
After reading your April 2008 article entitled "Daily Affirmation," I concur with your plight of explaining the need for daily and seasonally driven vehicles that fill the gaps between car shows and trips.
Here are our family's multi-use fleet options:

All are licensed and insured as needed. Just doing my part to explain the hobby.
Dan Brunnette
Lindstrom, Minnesota
Remembering the Nazy Crate
I just read the wonderful article in HMM#59, August 2008, on Nate Cohen's Thunderbolt, now owned by Randy DeLisio. During the 1970s, I was very friendly with Nate and spent quite a bit of time at his shop in Englishtown.
I saw this car still on the transporter when it arrived from Virginia, when it was having the chassis work done, and racing at Englishtown. I can still remember Nate telling me of the great interest the car drew at the NHRA Indy Nationals in 1974.
When at Englishtown, he would leave the driver's door open and rest while I pushed the car in the staging lanes. He would tell me to wake him when there were three to four cars in front of his.
Nate was a very opinionated man, but also very patient. I can remember that, when going to dinner with him, everyone knew him.
He is buried in Freehold, New Jersey, not far from his old shop and Raceway Park.
To have people still remember him and speak about him so well, almost 30 years after his death, tells you what a nice person he was. I hope that you can find space in your magazine to print this letter.
I still have a never-worn Nazy Crate tee shirt, brand-new Nazy Crate key chain, and several original Nazy Crate stickers in my office. If you would like, I can send you pictures of these items.
James Barretta
Closter, New Jersey
No guilt, big fun
I was reading your column about the daily drivers--here's mine: a 1973 Satellite Sebring. No guilt, big fun.
I bought it on eBay for $1,900 in 2002 and drove it home--from Georgia. I have replaced the stock 318 with a hopped-up 360 and it needs a little work, mainly in the suspension area, but the money I save on a monthly car payment is funneled into the "blue car," as we call it, as funds allow.
I have small kids, so a numbers-matching 'Cuda is totally out of the question for me, but the '73 is big fun to the kids; they love getting dropped off at school in it, making ice cream runs, and doing burnouts. Personally, I see the mid-to-late '70s cars as a great combination of old car fun and practicality. Mine always turns heads and is a blast to drive.
Brandon Flannery
Via e-mail

This article originally appeared in the September, 2008 issue of Hemmings Muscle Machines.